Author: FaithinNewYork

N. Jamiyla Chisholm, Colorlines, June 30, 2020. The original version of this article appeared in Colorlines and can be found here. Following a major tug-of-war between New York City public officials and activists, Mayor Bill de Blasio finally agreed to cut $1 billion from the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) massive budget Tuesday (June 30), NBC New York reports. The NYPD cut is part of an $88.1 billion proposed budget “that includes deep cuts to the police department and other city agencies,” de Blasio told NBC New York. On June 29, nearly 40 faith leaders in New York City, from a variety of denominations, signed a letter to de Blasio and the New York City Council to demand that the city divest at least $1 billion from the NYPD for the public health and welfare of Black and Latinx New Yorkers, among other divestment calls. It reads in part:  The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others by police, as well as the loss of over 17,000 deaths due to the Coronavirus in our city, has made it clear that systemic and structural racism is a public health emergency in our Black and Latinx communities. There is a great opportunity in this moment to create legislation and implement a FY 2021 budget that honors all those Black and Latinx lives whose breath has been stopped by police brutality, and all those gasping for air in communities that are living the daily impact of underfunding and neglect.  The letter was sent in advance of the city’s July 1...